"Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think."
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Today, my office, along with most city offices, start operating between the hours of 7:30 AM and 5:30 PM Monday through Thursday, and 7:30 AM and 11:30 AM Friday.

Anyone else out there operate on other than the normal 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Monday through Friday shift? What do you like and dislike about your office hours?

The offices of the community that I live in are open from 7:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and closed altogether on Fridays. I like the hours because on the few occasions that I need to go in there, I can stop on my way into work and they are not busy at all. I have talked to some of the folks that work there and they said they got a few complaints when they first switched over but after about a week, customers were used to it.

My office allows us to work four 10 hour days a week and have a three day weekend (I work 7:00 to 5:30 Monday - Thursday) but such a small percentage of the employees exercised that option that we didn't need to worry about adjusting our public hours.

I have been pushing for the four day work week for over a year now. I would love to work 7-6 M-R and get Friday off. Hasn't been bought into yet, as they still feel that it would hurt access from residents. I have continually made the argument about after regular work hour access, but it hasn't worked yet.

What were the arguments for such a change? Did it come from the top?

A common mistake people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools. -Douglas Adams

It sounds like it came first from citizens who complained that their 8-5 job in the big cities (about 30-60 minutes away) took them out of town during all of our office hours. Now, they don't miss so much of their work hours to visit a city office, pay a bill, etc.

"Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think."
Martin Luther King, Jr.

I personally would not be cool with this, as the long days would make it a lot tougher get things done before and after the work day - such as making it difficult to get in a workout before and after work. Once winter comes, you will never have a chance to enjoy sunlight during the week. It's only worth it if the offices are closed altogether on Fridays, as under this scheme you're still stuck with the fifth commute.

This idea was discussed here but went down in flames as it would require union contracts to be reopened to make the necessary changes to make it possible.

On paper, I believe it is 8AM-5PM M-TH (9 hours with no paid lunch) and 8 hours on Friday. However some of the engineers might be here as early as 4 AM. I'm up in the morning at 4AM. I schlep in around 9AM and stay until 6 PM (unless I do overtime which can be as early as 7 or as late as midnight. That doesn't include non-billable work-related tasks and projects such as my APA volunteer work (averaging about 10 extra hours a week preparing the AICP training workshop and logging all of the conference sessions for CM credits).

"This is great, honey. What's the crunchy stuff?"
"M&Ms. I ran out of paprika."

On paper, I believe it is 8AM-5PM M-TH (9 hours with no paid lunch) and 8 hours on Friday. However some of the engineers might be here as early as 4 AM. I'm up in the morning at 4AM. I schlep in around 9AM and stay until 6 PM (unless I do overtime which can be as early as 7 or as late as midnight. That doesn't include non-billable work-related tasks and projects such as my APA volunteer work (averaging about 10 extra hours a week preparing the AICP training workshop and logging all of the conference sessions for CM credits).

If you're staying up until midnight doing overtime work and are up at 4am, how are you functioning at work? I used to be able to do this kind of thing in graduate school but it is simply not an option for me these days. I know you're a guy who is big into physical fitness, so how does the lack of sleep you're doubtlessly experiencing affect this?

If you're staying up until midnight doing overtime work and are up at 4am, how are you functioning at work? I used to be able to do this kind of thing in graduate school but it is simply not an option for me these days. I know you're a guy who is big into physical fitness, so how does the lack of sleep you're doubtlessly experiencing affect this?

You function. Trust me. I had my long days in the private sector (say going on as early as 5am leaving around 8 or 10 pm) and as nick said going in at 8 am, staying until 11 or 12ish and going right back at it 8am. During one hectic project deadline i came in on a Sunday with my PM at 9am and didn't leave until 7:30 am the next day to make sure we made a deadline. Yea i was dog tired, but i just went to sleep and was rested ready to go back to work on Tuesday morning. When you have a job to do, you do it, and worry about rest later. It is called redbull, coffee, powerbars whatever.

It is no different from having a newborn in the house. Sure i go to bed at 10 or 11, but i am up with my wife at midnight, 2 am, 4 am and for about a 1/2 hour or an hour at a time tag-teaming the baby (feeding or changing diapers). The alarm still rings at 6am. I am still at work at 7:30 am. I do this to put a paycheck for the family. You just find a way to do this and eventually your body recoupes.

FYI our counter hours are 8:30 to 5. However we choose when we come in. We are super flexible here.

If you're staying up until midnight doing overtime work and are up at 4am, how are you functioning at work? I used to be able to do this kind of thing in graduate school but it is simply not an option for me these days. I know you're a guy who is big into physical fitness, so how does the lack of sleep you're doubtlessly experiencing affect this?

Raf pretty much summed it up for the private sector. No I don't work until midnight EVERY day. The last 17 hour day was a few months ago, when the streetscape design guidelines were rolling out. Before that it was back in February for a transportation planning project. I think you have to work in consulting to really get a grasp as to what drives us consultants to work extra hours. I usually put in 10-11 hour days not including lunch. I am salaried with paid overtime, so anything billed over 44 hours I earn at the hourly equivalent, so there is an incentive to put in more hours. I prefer extra pay to additional time off. There is a bottomless pit of Microstation redlining for the engineers, so l'm learning the ropes so I can keep my overtime up as the planning work lightens. I can function on 5 hours of sleep, so during the week I'm up around 4 AM and in bed by 1030ish. Just discipline I guess.

"This is great, honey. What's the crunchy stuff?"
"M&Ms. I ran out of paprika."

I have been pushing for the four day work week for over a year now. I would love to work 7-6 M-R and get Friday off. Hasn't been bought into yet, as they still feel that it would hurt access from residents. I have continually made the argument about after regular work hour access, but it hasn't worked yet.

What were the arguments for such a change? Did it come from the top?

Here it was a county wide decision and it seemed to come from the top down as nobody around the office really heard any talk about it until the option was announced. The program was announced back in the spring of 2008 when gasoline prices were really climbing and it was being billed as a way to save the employees 20% on our commutes (and it really has seemed to make some difference in how much I drive).

I think our county executive was able to get the commissioners to vote for it because it's voluntary and we have enough staff in all of the departments so that we would not be closed to the public on any of the days/times when we were previously opened. It was also up to the department heads discretion so in planning where we have minimal front counter customers (at the county level) as opposed to the treasurer or clerks offices, it was easier to sell to our manager.

The public community college that I work for has "summer hours" which means that we work 4 longer days during the week and get three day weekends from late May through the middle of August. Most staff take Fridays off but those people who work on Fridays get Mondays off.

It was a big incentive for me to leave my previous job and take this one. At a certain point, chunks of time off is much more valuable than extra $$$.

We've gone to 7am-6pm 4/10 schedule. My only complaint is the lack of time at the end of the day to hang out with the kids and wife. It's get home, dinner, clean up, bath kids, bed. So rushed. I hope to smooth this schedule out so I feel like I have a little more time to spend with them. The 3-day weekends however are great.

Yup....

Originally posted by boiker

We've gone to 7am-6pm 4/10 schedule. My only complaint is the lack of time at the end of the day to hang out with the kids and wife. It's get home, dinner, clean up, bath kids, bed. So rushed. I hope to smooth this schedule out so I feel like I have a little more time to spend with them. The 3-day weekends however are great.

Same here....same everything here....

“The way of acquiescence leads to moral and spiritual suicide. The way of violence leads to bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers. But, the way of non-violence leads to redemption and the creation of the beloved community.”
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
- See more at: http://www.thekingcenter.org/king-ph....r7W02j3S.dpuf

We do the M-Th 8-5, Fr 8-12:30 schedule, on paper. In practice I tend to get in around 9 but 1-2 night meetings and weekend work make up for it. I do like my Friday afternoons off, though, and try to get out by 2.

My last job started out 8:30-4:30 M-F but switched to M-W 8:30-4:30, Th 8:30-7:30 and Fr 8:30-12:30. None of that was real because of night meetings. Plus we got a new boss soon before I left who told everyone they couldn't leave early on Fridays.